Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un walk during a farewell ceremony upon Mr. Putin’s departure at an airport in Pyongyang, North Korea June 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: via Reuters

A new agreement between Russia and North Korea reached by their leaders requires the countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance in the event of war, North Korean state media said.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency on Thursday reported the language of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement reached by its leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on Wednesday. The agency said Article 4 of the agreement states that if one of the countries gets invaded and is pushed into a state of war, the other must deploy “all means at its disposal without delay” to provide “military and other assistance”.

The deal could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. Both Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin described it as a major upgrade of their relations, covering security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties.

The summit came as the U.S. and its allies expressed growing concerns over a possible arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for its war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Mr. Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile programme.

Following their summit, Mr. Kim said the two countries had a “fiery friendship”, and that the deal was their “strongest-ever treaty”, putting the relationship at the level of an alliance. He vowed full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Mr. Putin called it a “breakthrough document” reflecting shared desires to move relations to a higher level.

North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1961, which experts say necessitated Moscow’s military intervention if the North came under attack. The deal was discarded after the collapse of the USSR, replaced by one in 2000 that offered weaker security assurances.

South Korean officials said they were still interpreting the results of the summit, including what Russia’s response might be if the North comes under attack, and whether the new deal promises a similar level of protection with the 1961 treaty. South Korean officials didn’t immediately comment on the North Korean report about the details of the deal.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the US, South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle.

The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons, and the South broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.

Seoul:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a summit meeting on Wednesday after a grand welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, Russian media said, as they pledged to develop their nations’ ties.

An honour guard including mounted soldiers, and a large crowd of civilians gathered at the square by the Taedong River running through the capital. The scene included children holding balloons, and giant portraits of the two leaders with national flags adorning the Grand People’s Study Hall.

Kim and Putin then rode to the Kumsusan Palace for summit talks, Russian media said.

“We highly appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for Russian policy, including in the Ukrainian direction,” Russian state news agency RIA quoted Putin as saying at the start of the talks with Kim.

Putin said Moscow is fighting the hegemonic, imperialist policy of the United States and its allies, Russian media reported.

Putin arrived at Pyongyang’s airport early Wednesday. After Kim welcomed him with an embrace, the two shared “pent-up inmost thoughts” on the ride to the state guest house in Pyongyang, North Korean state media said.

Putin is on his first trip to the North Korean capital in 24 years, a visit likely to reshape decades of Russia-North Korea relations at a time when both countries face international isolation.

The countries’ partnership is an “engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world” and Putin’s visit demonstrates the invincibility and durability of their friendship and unity, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said.

Russia has used its warming ties with North Korea to needle Washington, while heavily sanctioned North Korea has won political backing and promises of economic support and trade from Moscow.

The United States and its allies say they fear Russia could provide aid for North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, which are banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions, and have accused Pyongyang of providing ballistic missiles and artillery shells that Russia has used in its war in Ukraine.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons transfers.

Kim greeted Putin, shaking hands, embracing and talking beside the Russian leader’s plane. The pair then rode in Putin’s Russian-made Aurus limousine to the Kumsusan State Guest House.

Likely given the hour, the welcome was a relatively subdued affair, with Kim greeting the Russian leader on the red carpet without the grand ceremony the North put on for Chinese President Xi Jinping on his 2019 visit.

“Passing through charmingly lit streets of Pyongyang at night, the top leaders exchanged their pent-up inmost thoughts and opened their minds to more surely develop the DPRK-Russia relations,” KCNA reported, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.

State media photos showed streets of Pyongyang lined with portraits of Putin and the facade of the unfinished and vacant 101-story pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel brightly lit with a giant message “Welcome Putin.”

‘ALTERNATE TRADE MECHANISM’

Wednesday’s agenda includes one-on-one discussions between the two leaders, as well as a gala concert, state reception, honour guards, document signings and a statement to the media, Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov as saying.

In a signal that Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, is reassessing its approach to North Korea, Putin praised Pyongyang ahead of his arrival for resisting what he said was U.S. economic pressure, blackmail and threats.

In an article on the front page of North Korea’s main ruling party newspaper, he promised to “develop alternative trade and mutual settlement mechanisms not controlled by the West” and “build an equal and indivisible security architecture in Eurasia.”

Putin’s article implies that there is an opportunity for North Korea’s economic growth within an anti-West economic bloc led by Russia, which is a message that is likely appealing to Kim Jong Un, wrote Rachel Minyoung Lee, an analyst with the 38 North programme in Washington.

“If Pyongyang views Russia as a viable longer-term partner for improving its economy – as irrational as this may seem to some – there is even less of an incentive for it to try to improve relations with the United States,” she said in a report.

Putin also issued a presidential order on the eve of the visit saying Moscow was looking to sign a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” with North Korea. Ushakov said it would include security issues.

Ushakov said the deal would not be directed against any other country, but would “outline prospects for further cooperation”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in North Korea early Wednesday, the Kremlin said, kicking off a visit set to boost defence ties between the two nuclear-armed countries as Moscow pursues its war in Ukraine.

Just after the pre-dawn touchdown, Russian TV showed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un greeting Putin in the dark, on a red carpet at Pyongyang’s airport, with the pair shaking hands and embracing before a motorcade took Putin along streets lined with Russian flags.

The trip is Putin’s first to the isolated nation in 24 years, with a recent confrontation between North and South Korean troops on the countries’ shared border highlighting regional security tensions.

Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to the West isolating Putin internationally.

The United States and its allies have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with much-needed arms, including ballistic missiles to use in Ukraine.

The North has denied giving Russia military hardware, but ahead of his trip, Putin thanked Kim’s government for helping the war effort.

“We highly appreciate that the DPRK (North Korea) is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine,” Putin wrote in an article published by Pyongyang’s state media Tuesday.

Russia and the North are “now actively developing the many-sided partnership”, Putin wrote.

Both countries are under rafts of United Nations sanctions — Pyongyang since 2006 over banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.

Putin praised North Korea for “defending their interests very effectively despite the US economic pressure, provocation, blackmail and military threats that have lasted for decades”.

He also hailed Moscow and Pyongyang for “maintaining the common line and stand at the UN”.

North Korea said the visit showed bilateral ties “are getting stronger day by day”, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

– US concern –

Pyongyang has described allegations of supplying weapons to Russia as “absurd”.

However, it did thank Russia for using its UN veto in March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations just as UN experts were starting to probe alleged arms transfers.

The United States voiced “concern” Monday about Putin’s trip because of the security implications for South Korea as well as Ukraine.

The two Koreas have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict and the border dividing them is one of the most heavily fortified in the world.

“We know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets (and) there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean peninsula,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Highlighting those security concerns, South Korea said its troops fired warning shots at soldiers from the North who briefly crossed the border Tuesday and then retreated.

The South’s military said it believed the North Korean soldiers accidentally crossed as they were fortifying the border, but said some of them were wounded after detonating landmines.

– ‘Lonely bromance’ –

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Putin’s trip showed how he was “dependent” on authoritarian leaders.

“Their closest friends and the biggest supporters of the Russian war effort — war of aggression — (are) North Korea, Iran and China,” Stoltenberg said.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the international community to counter “the lonely bromance” between Putin and Kim by increasing arms supplies to Kyiv.

“The best way to respond to it is to continue strengthening the diplomatic coalition for just and lasting peace in Ukraine and delivering more Patriots and ammunition to Ukraine,” Kuleba told AFP.

North Korea is eager for high-end military technology to advance its nuclear, missile, satellite and nuclear-powered submarine programmes, according to experts.

The Kremlin released a document on Tuesday confirming that Russia plans to sign a “strategic partnership” treaty with North Korea.

Given North Korea’s chronic resource shortages, Pyongyang is expected to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in areas such as tourism, agriculture and mining, “in exchange for providing military supplies” to Russia, a report from the Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy said.

Other issues including “cooperation on the deployment of North Korean workers or the supply of energy to North Korea — both of which would violate sanctions… are also likely to be discussed” behind the scenes, INSS researcher Kim Sung-bae wrote.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)